Evidence base
Health & Place
Uneven Access to Essential Services and Amenities: Geographic Disparities in Third Place Availability Across the United States, 2010 to 2021
What it found
This study tracked twelve categories of third places—coffee shops, libraries, museums, recreation centres, and restaurants among them—across the US between 2010 and 2021. It found closures in every category between 2019 and 2021, with losses concentrated in census tracts with higher social vulnerability and in rural areas.
Why it matters for practice
This gives programme designers and funders a geographic evidence base for where connection infrastructure has thinned out most, useful for targeting resources rather than assuming uniform decline. It documents loss, not causation, so it should not be read as evidence that closures were driven by the pandemic itself rather than pre-existing vulnerability.